Aries Merritt Signs with Nike
Olympic & World Champion agrees to multi-year agreement
BOSTON (February 21, 2013) – 2012 Olympic Hurdles Champion Aries Merritt has signed a multi-year agreement with US sportswear company Nike. In addition his Olympic gold, Merritt is an IAAF World Indoor Champion and the fastest high hurdler in history.
“2012 was a dream season for me. With Nike’s world-class support, I am looking forward to even better years ahead,” said Merritt. Nike’s commitment to Merritt will extend through the 2016 Olympic season.
Merritt had one of the best hurdle campaigns in history in 2012 when he won the IAAF World Indoor Championships, the US Olympic Trials and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He ended his breakthrough season with a bang when he shattered the existing World 110m Hurdle Record in Brussels on September 9th. His time of 12.80 shaved an astounding .07 off of the old world record held by the 2008 Olympic Champion Dayron Robles of Cuba. Merritt had a total of eight wind-legal sub 13-second runs, surpassing the previous best of seven in a season by Dayron Robles. Merritt showed glimpses of his outdoor brilliance last winter when he unexpectedly, but convincingly, won the IAAF World Indoor Championship over China’s 2004 Olympic Champion, Liu Xiang.
Merritt, who grew up in Georgia, was a high school state champion as well as an NCAA Champion for the University of Tennessee. He lives in Bryan, TX and trains at Texas A&M University in College Station.
Author
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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